The other wine areas: Koekenaap, the Langkloof and Outeniqua

Elim and Agulhas are more recongnisable as fledging wine areas, but how many people know of Koekenaap, the Langkloof or Outeniqua? Fiona McDonald reports on the vinous promise these areas display.

Gone are the days when Elgin and Walker Bay were considered cutting edge in terms of being the hottest emerging wine areas. It’s now about brand new – and cool – spots.

Probably the most radical "new" area to emerge in recent years was that of KwaZulu-Natal. While grapes were planted in Greytown and the KZN midlands in 2001 as part of an experiment by the Department of Agriculture, it was really only when Tiny and Judy van Niekerk of The Stables in Nottingham Road went to market with their first wines in 2005 that people started taking Wine of Origin: KZN a bit more seriously.

There are inherent problems with growing grapes in a summer rainfall area. At the Van Niekerks’ small Nottingham road farm which is a popular stop on the Midlands Meander, rain is just one of their challenges.

Hail is another that could strike at the particularly vulnerable ripening stage. Then there’s the threat of veld fires and severe frosts in winter. But these are all surmountable problems as Australian, French and English winemakers in summer rainfall areas have proved, and it just takes careful management and diligent spraying programmes to ensure that fungus, mildew or other problems don’t take hold.

Plantings in KZN now include Lions River, Rosetta, Greytown and Nottingham Road but the jury is out on the quality as plantings are still so young and no wine other than The Stables has made it to bottle yet.

Bruce Jack, the man behind the creation of Flagstone wines which is now part of massive international wine company Constellation, is one of the most clued up and savvy operators around. Jack has covered thousands of kilometres in his trusty Subaru, either ferreting out interesting parcels of fruit or convincing farmers to plant a patch of vineyard on promising sites.

That’s how The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc came about – through his association with Francis Pratt, a farmer near Elim more accustomed to running sheep and beef and planting wheat than vines. That venture’s been so successful that Pratt is increasing his vineyard plantings.

Asked why he did it, Pratt quips: “Stupidity… or craziness!” It turned out to be the craziness of a smart fox… Vines first went into the soil in 1996, just a few years after the “deregulation” of approved vine growing areas. Nowadays there’s the large Lomond operation, Land’s End, Zoetendal, The Berrio, Strandveld and Black Oystercatcher.

Sauvignon Blanc is the most popular varietal but Pratt and others believe that reds, particularly Shiraz, might show good promise too – although it’s still early days.

Obviously planting in unchartered territory has its risks. Pioneers don’t know how things are going to pan out until they try, and going from planting the vine to bottling the first wine takes a number of years. “I felt a bit like a flat earther at times,” Pratt admits, “simply because we didn’t have anything to compare it to. It was a voyage of discovery and I occasionally felt we might sail off the edge… We had no idea whether the climate would be kind to grapes or whether the soils would live up to their promise.”

Ten years down the line and the proof is in the pudding: savvy winemakers are falling over themselves to source Sauvignon Blanc from the cool-climate area of Elim and Agulhas, some of South Africa’s most southerly vine plantings.

“In the early days wind was a helluva problem but we overcame that by adjusting our trellising systems. I think the area has begun to prove itself – and not just for Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon. Pinot Noir will do well here, Shiraz is showing great promise and there’s no reason that Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec can’t do well either. It’s early days…”

The West Coast is another area that has opened up dramatically in the past decade. Distell viticulturist Bennie Liebenberg is a fan of Sauvignon Blanc sourced from Koekenaap, north of Lutzville, which makes a huge contribution to Fleur du Cap’s white wine success. “The quality of the fruit we get is fantastic – something the winemakers appreciate.” What sets it apart is the coolness during the growing season. Plantings are on sandy, alluvial soils adjacent to the Olifants River – but near enough to the ocean to benefi t from the cool southwesterly winds.

“The climate is a bit like that of Darling. It can get hot, going up to 30 degrees or so, but it cools down dramatically at night – down to about 12 degrees. We bought the first grapes from there in 2003 and have been impressed by the flavours although it lacks a bit of body and structure. Our winemaking teams blend in Sauvignon Blanc from either Elgin or Darling to beef up the structure in the final wine.”

Probably closest to the sea is Fryer’s Cove near Strandfontein – just 600m from the cold Atlantic waters! Winemaker Wynand Hamman and brother-in-law Jan van Zyl realized the problems of being pioneers after planting their first few hectares of Sauvignon Blanc in 1999. “The ground water was very salty – and the plants battled with salt blight from the sea breezes too.”

To solve the water problem, Van Zyl laid a pipeline and brought water in from Vredendal, 30km away! “And it looks as though the vines are resisting the salt burn as they mature,” says Hamman.

The average maximum temperature is 22 degrees while the average minimum is 12. They have about two hot days in February when the mercury goes over 30, but for that Van Zyl has rigged up overhead sprays to cool the ambient temperature – much like misting systems popular in coastal restaurants.

Already proving itself is the Langkloof, a mountainous region near George on the popular Garden Route. As mentioned in the golfer’s wine story on page 32 of this issue, Bruce Jack and Morne Jonker of the upper Langkloof pioneered the plantings on Jonker’s Schoonberg wine farm in the Outeniqua mountains.

“It’s an extremely cool but exceptionally dry area,” says Jonker. The upper Langkloof is positioned between the Klein Karoo and the Outeniqua/Garden Route area. Jonker says the warm Klein Karoo thermals cause low pressure which makes the cooler mountain and coastal air rush in.

He sells fruit to Charles Back for his Cool Climate Shiraz label while Jack has used the fruit extensively as well. Vivian Harpur of Herold wines can be found on the Montagu Pass outside George and experiences more trials and tribulations than Jonker because of much heavier rainfall. The 2008 vintage has been reduced by nearly 50% because of early seasonal rainfall.

Her brother, Mark Chandler, was the spur to development because he’s a Burgundy nut. Naturally Pinot Noir was among the first vine varieties planted in 1999. Clients for those grapes include Cathy Marshall and Kevin Grant. Sauvignon Blanc also revels in the cool conditions. “In the Swartberg, at a place near Klaarstroom, it’s so cool in the evenings in the middle of summer that you have to sleep under a duvet,” says Jack of his latest find which thrills him no end.

The Swartberg is an East-West running mountain range on the northern edge of the Klein Karoo, northeast of Oudsthoorn. “It’s routinely under 10 degrees at night – but it’s not just about the temperature. There are some amazing soils up there! It’s a bit like the Cederberg because of its altitude, about 1200m above sea level, and it’s dry so disease is not a problem – and there’s lots of water up there.”

The Swartberg is the fruit source of Jack’s Frostline Riesling and The Love Handles CWG Shiraz.

“I don’t think we’ve even begun to scratch the surface of South Africa’s potential,” Jack says. “I am really excited by a whole range of places – such as the Koue Bokkeveld, the Langkloof, the Eastern Cape and even the Karoo.”

He believes grapes could grow well in the area around Grahamstown – and while this might seem far-fetched at present, there is a historical precedent. Wine writer and international judge Dave Hughes recounts that Department of Agriculture records from as far back as 1880 record vine statistics for Uniondale, Bedford and Uitenhage.

“Those documents refl ect who grew what and where – and it’s perfectly logical because the settlers would have planted vines in order to make wine and brandy for local consumption.”

Hughes also states that these vines were hit in the phylloxera epidemic and were never replanted because by that stage the infrastructure had developed and it was simpler to source wine and brandy from the Western Cape. So it appears that many of these ideas swirling around in Jack’s creative brain have their basis in applied logic. If farmers north of Ceres in the Koue Bokkeveld can grow apples successfully, why not vineyards? After all, that’s the reason Elgin has become an established grape growing area in the last 10 years…

And the Karoo? “We’re involved in Spain, at Jumea, inland of Alicante in our La Bascula venture and that area reminds me so much of the Karoo. It’s just like that area with these dry, dusty areas, quartz outcrops – very similar to those found around Three Sisters… I’m toying with setting up a vineyard there.”

It’s broadly acknowledged that global warming is a reality. Cooler areas need to be discovered to off set current traditional areas becoming hotter and drier. One thing is certain – that in years to come wine drinkers might well find themselves doing an extended West Coast wine route, or an Eastern Cape, Karoo or even KwaZulu-Natal route.